


Not so Bad

by MellodramaticLawliet



Category: Durarara!!
Genre: Handcuffs, Living Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-01 18:30:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8633620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MellodramaticLawliet/pseuds/MellodramaticLawliet
Summary: Izaya Orihara had disappeared from Ikebukuro, and the city breathed a sigh of relief... that is, up until his return. Now not only does Shizuo have to deal with Izaya around his city, but attached to him as well? All thanks to Shinra and his handy dandy... handcuffs?





	1. Fight Club

Izaya felt the air behind him part as the newly unearthed street sign found a new home embedded in the brick of the wall behind him. "Shizu-chan!" Izaya greeted his attacker with a grin that wasn't entirely false, "Right on time."

Shizuo's eye twitched in irritation, "Shut up flea, what are you doing in town?"

"Oh," Izaya lifted up his hands in feigned innocence, making sure Shizuo could see the knife handle protruding from his sleeve, "this and that."

"Still in the business of ruining people's lives I see." Shizuo reached out, and the metal of yet another street sign began to warp beneath his grip, "I told you to stay away from Ikebukuro."

"Oh but how could I when you're here, Shizu-chan?" Izaya blew him a mock kiss, and just like that the cycle had begun anew.

Izaya Orihara, criminal informant and arguably evil mastermind, had been away from Ikebukuro for nearly two months and the city had breathed a sigh of relief. It's denizens had had nearly sixty days of reprieve from all of the crazy phenomena that had become practically normal for the city. The gangs had quieted, most of the traffic signs had been left in place, and even the Headless Rider seemed to be on the down low for the time being.

From across the street, Simon shook his head from inside the doorway of Russia Sushi. It seemed that Izaya Orihara had returned to town. It was a shame really. Simon liked Shizuo. He was a good role model for Varona, and with the return of Izaya, Simon knew that this was only the beginning of the fights they would tear the city apart with. Perhaps he would let them have this one, he had a certain premonition that there would be plenty of fights to break up in the coming days.

"Извини, Shizuo."

Three hours later found Shizuo Heiwajima, strongest man in Ikebukuro, sprawled across Shinra's couch in his and Celty's apartment.

"Shizuo." Shinra poked his face.

"Hm?"

"This may hurt." Shinra had Shizuo's right arm in his hands and was prodding his shoulder as if to find the spot that should connect the two.

"Go ahead."

Shizuo barely felt as his arm was wrenched back into place, and the only indication Shinra had as to whether or not the arm was where it should be was the crunching noise as Shizuo's humerus was forced back into its joint.

Shizuo rolled his shoulder and nodded. Shinra sighed, "Maybe you should just stick to vending machines, Shizuo. I'm sure you can kill him with one of those... a car is just overboard."

Shizuo grunted, and Shinra took it as an affirmation, "I'll go make tea, try not to pick anything up with that arm."

Shizuo nodded and flopped over onto his stomach, pressing his face into the couch cushions. He hadn't felt this exhausted in nearly... two months.

The two months the flea had been gone were like a watered down dream. Everything was a blur of work, and peace. The city had been quiet, and Shizuo hadn't been forced to fight anyone, Varona had both of their jobs covered, his role was mainly the intimidation factor at that point, and the rest of the city had left him alone for the first time in years.

As much as he hated to admit it, Izaya had had a hand in nearly every aspect of his life. Even when he wasn't in sight, there was always some sort of underlying chaos with his name on it interfering with Shizuo's way of life, from the random gangster attacking him in an alley to the city wide bounty placed on his head last spring.

When Izaya had left, to go do god knows what to some poor unsuspecting city, it was the first time since High School that Shizuo's life had been allowed to run its own course.

Shizuo hadn't known how heavy the hand guiding his life had been until it was suddenly gone. Now that Izaya was back, he didn't quite know how to react.

Other than to try to kill him of course, but that was to be expected.

In the back of his mind, Shizuo heard the front door open and close. Shizuo hoped it was Celty, and not Shinra's irritating father.

"Hey Shinra, long time no see."

Shizuo felt a surge of rage and energy as he lifted his face from the couch cushions to face the one person that made him wish it had been Shinra's father who walked through the door.

"OOf!" Shizuo huffed as a sudden weight on his back forced his face back into the cushion.

"This apartment is a neutral zone!" Shinra proclaimed to both belligerents from his place perched on Shizuo's back.

Shizuo propped his chin on the pillow, narrowing his eyes at Izaya as the informant shrugged, "Fine, as long as he doesn't throw a table at me while I'm getting my arm stitched up."

Shizuo growled, "Fine, as long as Shinra gets off of me before I throw him across the room."

Shinra hastily allowed Shizuo to sit up, anxiously watching the both of them as he pulled his first aid kit off of the counter and began to work on the gash in Izaya's arm.

Shizuo sipped cautiously at his tea and concentrated on not shattering the cup in his hands as he listened to Izaya and Shinra idly chit chatting mere feet away.

By the time Shizuo's tea was gone, Shinra had begun to pack up his supplies and Shizuo couldn't take it anymore, "Why did you come back?"

Izaya raised an eyebrow at him and Shizuo glared back, the cup in his hand in serious danger of being smashed to bits.

"Easy, this city is the most interesting place I could find. It's filled to the brim with humans to play with." He grinned wickedly and Shizuo felt himself stand up, his cup in shards on the floor around his feet.

"Oh no you don't!" Shinra had gotten between the two of them, Shizuo towering over him and Izaya leaning casually against the counter, grin still in place. "You two are not going to mess up this city anymore."

Shizuo raised a hand to move Shinra out of the way and Shinra grabbed it out of the air, snatching Izaya's hand in his other. Before Shizuo could comprehend what had happened, Shinra had sprinted from the room and slammed his door shut. Shizuo glanced down over the sound of locks clicking and found his wrist encircled in a black cuff. "Hmm?"

Experimentally, he lifted his hand and noticed a chain trailing from the cuff. He followed the chain with his eyes and ended up focused on Izaya.

Izaya seemed to be holding his breath.

Shizuo's mind clicked. "SHINRA!"

Shizuo vaulted the couch, not caring if Izaya was able to keep up and skidded to a halt in front of Shinra's bedroom. "Open the door!" Shizuo pounded on the door and the entire building seemed to shake.

"Tell us how to get out of these handcuffs!" Izaya shouted over Shizuo's pounding.

"No!" Shinra's muffled reply came through the door, along with the sound of yet another lock sliding into place, "The handcuffs are made of shadows and can only be taken off by Celty, who swore not to take them off until you two found a way to get along!"

"Shinra!" Shizuo shouted, still pounding on the door.

"Hey!" Izaya shouted, shoving Shizuo away from the door, "Idiot, if you kill him Celty will never take these off."

Shizuo turned to him, rage roiling off of his skin like heat, "Maybe I could just rip your arm off flea."

Izaya sneered, "I'd love to see you try."

Shizuo took hold of the chain with both hands and pulled, until his recently un-dislocated arm hurt, and yet nothing happened.

"That won't work!" Shinra shouted through the door, "The cuffs are indestructible, and the clasps are too tight, if you ripped it off you'd have to drag his arm around with you and then you'd be arrested for sure."

Shizuo grimaced, there was no way he was going to jail again for the flea.

"Just work out your differences, it can't be that difficult." Shizuo scoffed, but Shinra continued, "At least sleep on it, surely the two of you can last a few hours without killing each other, or are you both really that weak?"

"You walk a fine line, Shinra." Izaya growled.

"Think about it! The city will be a much better place if you two can at least tolerate each other. Think about this as the ultimate lesson in self control."

Shizuo stilled, and bit his lip.

"You can't seriously be considering this." Izaya glared at him.

"Shut up flea." He muttered. It was true Shizuo had been working on his self control since he was a child, but Izaya just made him so irrationally angry...

"Fine." Izaya growled, "But you'd better watch your back Shinra."

With that he began to pull Shizuo toward the door, and Shizuo was forced to trail after him. "Oi flea, stop pulling my arm."

"If you don't want me to pull, then try to keep up. Your legs are longer than mine." Izaya grumbled, yanking their chain for good measure.

Shizuo had to force himself to count to ten before he responded, "I don't even know where we're going."

"My apartment."

"No way." Shizuo skidded to a stop, forcing Izaya to stop with him, "Why your place? Why not mine?"

Izaya rolled his eyes as if this were an idiotic question, "Because my place is bigger, and Namie will be there to alert the police in case you murder me in my sleep."

"Who is Namie?"

"My assistant, try to keep up Shizu-chan." Izaya rolled his eyes again and resumed walking.

Shizuo glared at the back of his head, "What about my stuff? We have to at least stop by my apartment."

"Not my problem." Izaya waved a hand flippantly, "Why don't you call your brother and have him bring your stuff in the morning?"

Shizuo grit his teeth but begrudgingly took his cell phone from his pocket.

A bit of walking, and an awkward cab ride later, they stood in front of Izaya's apartment and Shizuo braced himself for what he might find inside.

"Huh?" Shizuo pulled the note from the door and read; "This apartment's occupant has relocated."

"Oh, that." Izaya took the note from him and crumpled it up, "That's just something I have Namie put on the door when she sees you coming."

Shizuo grit his teeth, "How dumb do you think I am?"

Izaya gave him a brief once over, and arched an eyebrow, "Are you sure you want an answer to that question?"

"Whatever." Shizuo growled and pushed the now unlocked door open and strolled into the room without invitation.

"Namie!" Izaya called, "I know you're here, I saw the note on the door."

Shizuo turned just in time to duck as a plate flew over their heads and smashed against the far wall.

"Ah," Izaya straightened up, dusting off his coat, "there you are."

The woman in the doorway glared at him, brandishing a wicked looking soup ladle, "First you disappear for two months, and then you come back, and now you're out until all hours of the night. I'd better get paid overtime for this!"

Shizuo frowned, wondering where he could have possibly gone where he wouldn't have told his assistant about.

Izaya rolled his eyes and smirked at her, "It's not like I didn't pay you for the time I was gone, and it's only ten thirty, it's not like you have anywhere better to be now that you're in hiding."

They both ducked another dinner plate as Namie stormed from the room.

"So that's Namie, I'd say feel free to boss her around, but she probably won't listen to you." Izaya didn't seem to be too troubled by his moderately homicidal assistant, so Shizuo decided not to comment.

"Come on," Izaya tugged at their wrists, "I have to check my e-mail."

Shizuo let himself be pulled across the room to the obnoxiously large computer monitor, simply because he didn't trust himself to open his mouth to argue against it.

Izaya plunked down into his chair and eagerly logged into the computer, leaving Shizuo to stand awkwardly next to him and attempt vaguely to keep up as he zoomed through his various e-mails and social networking accounts.

"Should I be seeing this?" Shizuo asked as he watched Izaya open up an e-mail titled "Cadaver Relocation."

Izaya shrugged, "I'm not checking my more... unsavory accounts, and the messages you are seeing now are from jobs you can't do anything about."

Shizuo bit his lip to keep from retorting and chose instead to watch the cars go by on the street below through the enormous window. This at least he didn't mind doing.

Despite their differences, Izaya and Shizuo both shared a certain appreciation for humanity. For Izaya it was an infatuation, but for Shizuo, it was more wistful. Perhaps one day, when he gained control over his strength he would be able to be a part of it.

He hadn't noticed how tired he was until he had to brace himself against the computer desk to stay upright. "Hey." he nudged Izaya, who was currently instant messaging someone whose name he didn't recognize, "I'm tired."

"Good for you." Izaya replied without looking up.

"Where are we sleeping?"

Izaya wrinkled his nose, "Certainly not in my room." he glanced around, "The couch is long enough for us both."

Shizuo glanced over and sighed in relief as he saw that the couch lined three sides of the living room. This way they would be able to sleep on two different sides and not have to touch.

"Good enough," he muttered, "come on, flea."

"No." Izaya pulled back on the chain, "I'm not done here."

"Too bad." Shizuo lifted Izaya out of the chair and carried him over to the couch.

"You're lucky you didn't get a knife to the neck." Izaya glared at him.

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "You won't kill me until we're out of these." he shook the handcuffs as a reminder.

Izaya flicked out his pocket knife, "That doesn't mean I won't cut you up."

Shizuo ground his teeth to keep from punching him, "You do that, flea, but I'm going to sleep."

With that he sunk down and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible on a couch that clearly wasn't made for comfort, and surprisingly felt himself drifting off. The last thing he saw was the glow from Izaya's laptop that the informant had pulled from seemingly thin air.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Celty arrived back at the apartment to find Shinra barricaded in their bedroom.

Shinra? She typed, as soon as she had gotten him to open the door.

"Oh, this." He chuckled and scratched his head, "Remember those handcuffs I asked you to make?"

Celty nodded her helmet reluctantly, an unpleasant sensation settling in the pit of her stomach.

"Well, Shizuo and Izaya stopped by earlier after another one of their fights, and were about to destroy the apartment, and it was just so nice around town without having to worry about them killing each other..."

Get to the point! She typed anxiously.

"I handcuffed them together."

Shinra! Celty felt a stress headache coming on, which was remarkable, everything considered. They are going to destroy the city and then each other.

Shinra shook his head, "No they won't."

How can you know that? This is Izaya and Shizuo we're talking about.

"Shizuo has been getting better at self control, especially since Izaya's two month disappearance, and Izaya, well... We don't really have to worry about that."

Celty metaphorically frowned, What do you mean?

"Don't you remember the incident from two months ago?" Shinra sighed, "I think I know why Izaya disappeared, and I think I also know why he came back."

Why?

"Shizuo."


	2. Sleepover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day two of Izaya and Shizuo's week together

That night Shizuo's dreams were characterized by scattered blurry images, flicking through his consciousness like ghosts; though he thought he could make out a dark head of hair here and there. Kasuka? Perhaps it was Shinra. He couldn't tell through the haziness.

When he finally woke up his first thought was an overwhelming, where the hell am I.

Wearily he noticed a person sitting nearby. Izaya. Everything came flooding back in a wave of frustration and absurdness.

"Ugh." he rolled over and covered his eyes with his free arm.

"Good morning to you too."

Shizuo risked a glance over at Izaya, who was in the same position as the night before, absently tapping at his keyboard. Shizuo vaguely wondered if he had slept, and then remembered that he didn't care.

An awkward silence fell across the room, and Shizuo wasn't sure he had anything to break it with other than the usual "Stupid flea" or "I'm going to kill you."

Luckily they were both spared from acting as the doorbell rang.

"That'll be Kasuka." Shizuo hurried to the door, and Izaya followed reluctantly, "he's early."

The sight of his brother's face immediately calmed Shizuo down, and if it weren't for the handcuffs, he would have hugged him. "Kasuka, thanks for bringing my things."

Kasuka nodded, and if he found the situation at all abnormal, Shizuo couldn't tell. "Are you sure you're all right?"

Shizuo glanced behind him at Izaya, who seemed to be enjoying watching him interact with his brother. After a moment of irritation, he turned back and nodded, "Don't worry, brother, I'll be fine."

Kasuka nodded before he left and said, "If you need anything else just call."

Shizuo let out a sigh once the door had closed, reassured simply by the fact that his brother believed he could get through this.

"Earth to Shizu-chan."

Or perhaps not.

Izaya was waving a hand in front of his face, "It's great that you have clothes now, but I believe you're forgetting something."

When Shizuo didn't respond immediately, Izaya shook their joined wrists, "How are we supposed to change clothes?"

Shizuo grimaced, "How should I know? I didn't make these damned things."

Izaya rolled his eyes and took out his phone, "Then why don't we call the idiot who did."

Shinra picked up on the third ring with a hearty "Hello! Glad to hear you're both alive, or at least Izaya is."

"I'm here too." Shizuo grumbled, taking the phone out of Izaya's hand and setting it to speaker.

"Even better!"

"How long are we supposed to stay like this Shinra? We lasted the night, we beat your little test." Izaya started to cross his arms and then thought better of it.

"Not quite." Shinra chuckled, "The test was to see if you two could settle your differences, not tolerate being in the same room for a few hours."

Shizuo gripped the counter edge to keep from hitting something, namely Izaya.

"So how long are we supposed to put up with this?" Izaya was gritting his teeth and Shizuo felt a brief and savage sense of satisfaction in the fact that he was just as affected by this as Shizuo.

"I think I'll check back in with you in a week."

"What!?"

"A week!?"

"Shinra," Shizuo said hurriedly, "I have to work, Tom is depending on me-"

"Relax Shizuo, I already talked to Tom. He said Varona has it covered."

Shizuo growled, "Who said you could-"

"And Izaya," Shinra cut him off, "You just took off two months, what's another week?"

Izaya said nothing. The informant was busy glaring a hole in the wall and probably imagining all of the horrible ways he could ruin Shinra's life. Despite everything, Shizuo nearly felt pity for the poor doctor.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah," Shizuo answered, "how are we supposed to get dressed?"

"Oh, the handcuffs are made so that everything but human skin can go through them, they are after all made of shadows."

Izaya and Shizuo glanced at each other before remembering themselves, and Izaya quickly bade Shinra good bye, along with a few well placed threats toward his wellbeing, and hung up the phone.

"Well." Izaya said.

"Well." Shizuo replied.

"I get the bathroom first."

"Like hell you do."

"My apartment."

Their morning was wrought with bickering, swearing, threatening, and one account of minor violence against Izaya's person, though this was short lived once the knife came out. By the time the two of them had finished changing and using the bathroom it was nearly noon and they were both mentally and physically exhausted.

"What now?" Shizuo asked.

"I have to work from my laptop. you can watch tv." Izaya plopped down on the couch and Shizuo groaned.

"I hate watching tv."

"Who the hell hates watching tv?"

"Me."

They bickered back and forth for a few minutes before Shizuo finally gave in and picked up the remote. The tv had over a thousand channels and Shizuo managed to flip through all of them at least twice without finding anything even remotely interesting.

"Would you please just pick a channel already?"

"I hate tv."

"You've said that already."

Shizuo was about bored enough to commit homicide at that point. Jail would be preferable to spending a week on Izaya's couch.

With that thought in mind he stood up abruptly, smiling wryly as Izaya's arm jerked up with him, knocking his laptop over.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Exploring."

Izaya narrowed his eyes, but followed him as he picked his way around the flea's apartment, which actually proved to be more interesting than he had thought.

"Make yourself at home why don't you?" Izaya remarked as Shizuo pulled a dusty book from a massive bookshelf against one wall. Shizuo ignored him and continued to peruse the bookshelf.

In and among the books there were various items in use as book ends, one of which was a broken sword which Izaya encouraged him to touch, and he decided to steer clear from. Another was an interesting rock that seemed to change colors when he looked at it from different angles.

"Aren't you worried I'm going to find something I'm not supposed to?" Shizuo asked glancing back at Izaya, who seemed to be watching him carefully.

"You seem to think I'm some sort of villain with an evil lair full of strange and incriminating artifacts."

Shizuo tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at him.

Izaya shrugged and a smile formed at the edge of his lips, "Fine, but you won't find anything here, I'm smarter than that."

Shizuo was caught off guard at the way Izaya had humored him. And was that a genuine smile? Caused by him? Shizuo wondered how many times he would have to slam his head into a rock to forget this entire incident ever happened.

"Are you quite done inspecting my apartment?" Izaya tapped his foot against the floor. Leave it to Izaya to ruin what might have actually been a civil moment between the two of them. "You've been at this for hours."

"If I have to live here for a week, I might as well get to know the place." He grunted.

"Don't remind me." Izaya rolled his eyes and went back to tapping at his phone.

Shizuo kept exploring for another hour just to annoy Izaya before he finally settled back on the couch. "I'm so bored."

"The tv is right there."

Shizuo didn't bother to dignify that with a response. Instead he laid back and studied the pattern of the ceiling tiles, "What time is it?"

"Five o'clock."

"What are we doing for dinner?"

"I think there is still food left over from the dinner Namie made yesterday."

"Alright." Shizuo stood, not waiting for Izaya to catch up, and went to check the fridge.

"You've certainly made yourself at home." Izaya rolled his eyes as Shizuo pawed through the contents of the fridge.

"Do you eat anything other than tuna?" Shizuo wrinkled his nose.

"There should be left over take out somewhere in the back."

Once Shizuo had found this, he led the way back to the couch and settled down to eat his dinner.

"Aren't you going to eat something?"

Izaya hadn't taken anything from the fridge and was back to taping on his phone, "We ate lunch like two hours ago, and it's not exactly appetizing to watch you shovel food into your mouth."

"I do not s-" Shizuo broke off when he noticed Izaya doing that strange half smile again. "Quit it."

"Quit what?"

"Laughing at me."

"Oh Shizu-chan, I'm always laughing at you."

Shizuo braced for the normal rush of anger to overtake him and was pleasantly surprised when it didn't come, "Whatever, flea."

Izaya shot him a strange look before returning to his phone, muttering, "Five more days of this."

Shizuo wondered what he had done that was so annoying to him, and then remembered that he didn't care. Whatever.

"If you're not going to actually watch anything then there's no use in turning the tv on." Izaya glanced up as Shizuo flipped the tv on and resumed his futile channel surfing.

"Yeah, but it annoys you."

Izaya sighed, "Neanderthal."

"Flea."

After an hour of listening to Shizuo complain about being bored, Izaya sighed and handed him his phone, which was open to some gaming app called "Candy Crush."

"Here, it's a game." Izaya showed him how to do it and then pulled out his laptop to get some more work done, though Shizuo wasn't really sure how much work Izaya could get done by simply scrolling through various e-mails. "Just stop it with the tv."

Shizuo quickly found out that this was the worst video game ever invented.

"How did I just spend four hours playing that?"

Izaya shrugged, looking irritatingly amused, "Simple minds are easily distracted."

Shizuo threw a cushion at him, though he somehow knew the statement lacked any real malice.

Izaya yawned then, and Shizuo suddenly realized how tired he was, "It's not like we did anything today." He grumbled, trying to fluff up the uncomfortable couch cushion.

"Maybe simply being in my presence exhausts you. That often happens to mere mortals such as yourself." Izaya smirked.

"Yeah yeah." Shizuo watched as Izaya stretched out across his side of the couch like a cat, one arm stretched over his head so the chain wouldn't pull too hard on his wrist. "Hey how come you get a blanket?"

"My apartment." Izaya yawned again, "Besides, it's your fault for not seeing the pile of them Namie placed at the end of the couch earlier."

"It's not my fault your demon phone was so addicting." Shizuo grumbled and leaned over Izaya to pick out a blanket. "What?" he asked, looking down to find Izaya watching him.

"It feels like we're teenagers at a sleepover."

Damn flea, why did he have to make it weird?

"We're handcuffed together."

"Yeah, but you're not trying to kill me. You haven't even insulted me in an hour." Izaya looked thoughtful.

"Yeah well, don't get used to it." Shizuo rolled over, yanking their chain for good measure. He wondered suddenly if Izaya had ever been to a sleepover. As far as he knew Shinra was Izaya's only friend.

And then he remembered he didn't care.


	3. Getting to know you

Shizuo barely slept at all that night. For one thing, whenever he attempted to get comfortable, the chain would inevitably pull at his wrist, and Izaya would threaten him. Whenever he did manage to doze off, one of them would turn and the other would be in danger of falling off the couch. At one point Izaya did end up being pulled off the couch, and then the knife came out, and Shizuo's appendages were threatened, and they finally gave up at around five thirty and decided to make breakfast before Namie showed up.

"It can't go on like that for another three nights." Izaya yawned, "I didn't sleep at all Monday night, and last night can't be counted."

"Yeah well I didn't get any more sleep than you did." Shizuo growled, angrily stirring pancake batter.

When Namie showed up things only got worse as the apartment was subjected to three grumpy belligerents. By midday, five plates were broken, Namie's soup ladle was bent, Izaya's phone screen cracked - though he had around ten spares - and a three inch cut had appeared along one of Shizuo's arms, which - surprisingly - was not Izaya's work.

"I think that needs stitches." Izaya prodded Shizuo's arm.

"It's fine."

"It's still bleeding."

"That's what cuts do."

Izaya frowned at him, and Shizuo felt the strangest need to compromise, "I'll put a band-aid on it."

"Whatever, just don't get blood on my couch."

Once Shizuo's arm had been cleaned up they found themselves on the couch yet again, and Shizuo was nearly certain he had the ceiling pattern memorized. "I'm bored."

"Four hundred and seven."

"What?"

Izaya glanced up at him, "That's the four hundred and seventh time you've told me you're bored."

"Well it's true." Shizuo went back to studying the ceiling.

"Fine. Let's go for a walk, I'm feeling a bit bored myself." Izaya rose, and Shizuo faltered. "What?"

He wasn't sure how to respond. It was one thing to maintain self control inside the apartment, but it was another thing entirely to walk along the streets on which they had so frequently fought and trust himself not to rip up a street sign or two.

Izaya just rolled his eyes, "Give yourself a bit more credit, we've survived this long."

He tugged him through the door, and Shizuo was surprised to learn that it wasn't difficult to keep himself from committing murder when Izaya wasn't actively trying to anger him. In fact, the walk wasn't all that bad. They barely spoke to one another, but they lasted a good few hours without arguing.

The only time Shizuo's patience was tried was when they ran into Kururi and Mairu.

The Orihara twins announced their presence by attempting to murder Izaya; which was always a promising entrance, and then began questioning them about the handcuffs.

"Ooh, how can I get a pair?" Mairu was bouncing up and down, eyeing her sister creepily.

Izaya shook his head, "Even if I knew how to get a pair, I wouldn't tell you."

"Aww Iza-nii you're no fun!"

"How." Kururi looked at them questioningly, and Shizuo looked to Izaya to explain.

"Shinra's annoyed with us, and decided to force us to get along."

"Oh oh oh!" Mairu looked positively ecstatic, "If you two become friends then Shizuo will give us Kasuka's phone number!"

"No I won't."

"Will you give it to us if we get you out of the handcuffs?"

"No."

"Pretty please? We won't even cut off your hand!"

"Izaya's." Kururi eyed Izaya's wrist as if imagining where it would be best to chop.

"Hey!" Izaya pulled his hand away from the twins, and Shizuo had no doubt that they would cut off his hand for his brother's phone number.

"Still no."

"Oh well, we have some stalking to do, if you change your mind Iza-nii has our phone numbers!"

They watched the twins leave and Izaya sighed, "Siblings."

"My brother isn't like that."

Izaya laughed, "I'd ask you to trade but I already know what your answer is going to be."

Shizuo didn't respond. His mind was still caught off guard at the easy way Izaya had laughed just then, like they were long time friends and he had told a joke.

"Come on Shizuo." Izaya tugged his hand, "Jeez it's like being handcuffed to a statue."

They walked around for a few more hours but ultimately decided to return to the apartment after running into Kida, who had burst out laughing, and didn't stop until they were out of eyesight.

"The" apartment. Shizuo shook his head. He had started referring to Izaya's apartment as The Apartment in his head. This was getting bad. Though, there was a small part of him that wondered if it would be so entirely awful to be on civil terms with Izaya. It would certainly make his life a lot easier.

That thought lasted another few minutes, until he was forced to remember just who he was handcuffed to.

When they walked back into the apartment they were met by a guy who claimed to be from the Yakuza.

"I'm not seeing clients at the moment." Izaya attempted to wave the man through the door, "Come back next Monday."

"There's a person we need you to get information on." The man handed Izaya a manila folder, "We need to get rid of her."

Izaya tried to hand back the folder, "Like I said, come back Monday."

"This matter-"

Shizuo had had enough, "He said leave."

The man looked Shizuo up and down, "What are you his boyfriend? We have work to do and we need his help, especially after he disappeared for two months-"

"Oh man," Izaya chuckled, taking in Shizuo's facial expression, "you must be new around here."

"Look, if you would just cooperate-"

The man never got to finish his sentence as Shizuo lifted him up by his lapels, threw him from the apartment, and slammed the door shut so the walls trembled.

There was silence for a moment before Izaya made a "hm" noise and shrugged, "I never thought I'd say this but your strength can be pretty useful."

"Shut up."

"Sure thing... boyfriend." Izaya winked at him, and Shizuo's control snapped like a stressed bowstring.

The first punch was dodged, but their forced proximity made it hard for Izaya to retrieve his knife before the second blow landed straight to his shoulder, and then their momentum was carrying them backward over the couch.

They landed in a tangled heap of limbs half on and half off of the couch.

Namie entered the room and scoffed, "Zero self control."

"Shut up." Shizuo growled, trying to dislodge himself from Izaya, who was stubbornly refusing to move, one hand still extending the knife toward Shizuo's chest.

"Well I was going to tell you dinner is in the kitchen, but you two look a little preoccupied."

"Remind me again why you hired her of all people as an assistant?"

Izaya smirked, "She came with a good bargain."

"I don't want to know." Shizuo stood, and picked Izaya up off of the floor by his coat collar.

"I'm sure you don't."

Dinner was quiet, and the fight was all but forgotten. Their walk had run late so by the time they were finished eating, and Izaya had checked all of his e-mails, the only thing left to do was determine how they were going to sleep.

"This isn't working." Izaya remarked, they tried both stretching their arms forward, then above them, and even holding each other's wrists since they couldn't bring themselves to hold hands.

"I hadn't noticed." Shizuo glared at him.

"Well what would you suggest?"

Shizuo thought for a moment, "It doesn't matter how we position our arms, it's the fact that we're on different sides of the couch and we both move in our sleep."

"Well how exactly are we supposed to fix that?"

Shizuo could only think of one way, but it would be a cold day in hell when he suggested that.

Izaya sighed, "I see."

He shuffled over to Shizuo's side, and Shizuo backed up, not particularly keen to have Izaya in his personal space.

"Oh grow up." Izaya frowned, "We both know this is the only way we're both going to get a decent night's sleep, and if we want to avoid another incident like today, then that's exactly what we need."

Shizuo shook his head, "How do I know you won't knife me in my sleep?"

Izaya rolled his eyes, "Because that would be stupid with four days left, and plus then I would get blood on my couch."

"Well that's reassuring." Shizuo tried to come up with another reason not to let Izaya do this but couldn't come up with anything valid. "Fine, but if it still doesn't work, then you're going back to your side of the couch."

Izaya rolled his eyes, "You say that like this is your apartment."

"Whatever." Shizuo rolled over and moved his arm so that the chain was trailing over his side. He felt Izaya lay down beside him and move his arm the same way.

"Why are you so warm?" Izaya mumbled, half to himself.

Shizuo chose not to respond, he admitted to himself that it felt odd to be sleeping beside another human being. He could feel Izaya's back against his own, and could tell by the change in his breathing the exact moment when Izaya fell asleep.

It was strangely comforting, though Shizuo would never admit this. He found himself being lulled to sleep by the sound of Izaya's slow rhythmic breathing...

The next thing he knew it was morning, and Shizuo found himself staring into Izaya's face. They had both managed to turn in their sleep without waking the other up. Shizuo was thankful that he had been the one to wake first; if it had been Izaya, he never would have heard the end of it.

Shizuo made to sit up when Izaya made a small contented noise in the back of his throat and shifted closer. Shizuo suddenly found himself inches away from the informant's face. Izaya was strangely peaceful in sleep, and his lips were parted slightly in a way that reminded Shizuo of a child.

He vaguely realized that he was staring at Izaya's sleeping face, and finally forced himself to sit up and tug Izaya awake.

Their morning routine was a bit more quiet than usual. Shizuo realized that they hadn't bickered even once since they had woken up, and attributed it to a good night's sleep. When it was his turn to use the bathroom, the door opened and Izaya came out still sliding his shirt over his head, and Shizuo caught the barest hint of his stomach before he hurried into the room, shutting the door over the chain and thanking everything that the shadow cuffs were able to go through the wood.

Breakfast was even more quiet and for some reason, Izaya seemed just as reluctant as him to break the silence. When they had settled back in the living room, Izaya resumed his phone activities and Shizuo began to channel surf for lack of anything better to do.

After a while, Shizuo started to notice that Izaya would smile to himself every once in a while, and began to time his responses.

Every ten minutes or so, Izaya would smirk at his phone and bite his lip. Shizuo couldn't figure out what must be so amusing to him.

Finally he blurted out, "What are you even doing on there?"

"Hm?" Izaya glanced up at him, and Shizuo felt self conscious.

"I mean," he hesitated, "what's so funny?"

Izaya grinned and moved closer to Shizuo, tilting his phone screen to show him a private chat room on some social media site. "I'm messing with Mikado and Masaomi."

Shizuo raised an eyebrow, trying to ignore the fact that their shoulders were touching, "Don't you have anything better to do with your time?"

Izaya shrugged, "Not at the moment. Plus it's their fault for deciding to be gang leaders when they're barely even out of middle school."

"I still don't see why that's so funny."

Izaya rolled his eyes, "Here." he handed Shizuo his other phone, "This is my other persona, say hi."

"How many personas do you have?"

"Many."

Shizuo didn't like the devious look in his eyes, so he chose to accept the phone instead.

Hello everyone.

Hey!

Hello.

/Hi/

What's going on?

Kanra was just telling us about how there is more than one Saika in town! Creepy...

/Huh, it's weird how you and Kanra are never online at the same time.../

That's a good question.

Conflicting work schedules? I'm a busy person ;)

Yeah yeah, we know, now what about these other Saikas?

Izaya launchedinto a dramatic, and possibly made up story about a woman who had metal claws and could electrocute people and was searching for the other half of her sword or something like that. Shizuo had to put down the phone after a little while when it became difficult to keep up with the storyline.

Instead he watched Izaya as he typed and wondered how the informant derived so much amusement out of this activity. Shizuo found it interesting the way Izaya would chuckle softly to himself and glance up every once in a while to see if Shizuo was still reading. Shizuo felt compelled to pretend he was still invested in the story, though at that point he was watching Izaya more than the phone.

When Izaya was done tormenting the city's youth he finally put down the phone and looked up at Shizuo, "See? not everything I do is entirely maniacal."

Shizuo squinted at him, "I'm sure there's some kind of sub plot to that, but I don't really care to find out."

Izaya sighed and shook his head.

"What?"

Izaya glanced up at him, "You always say you hate me because I'm evil and I mess with the city, but that's not the reason at all."

Shizuo arched an eyebrow, "Oh? And why not?"

Izaya rolled his eyes, "Because you're not some justice seeking good guy, you don't even really care that I do bad things. It's just the fact that it's me doing them."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "Don't flatter yourself, flea, not everything is about you."

Instead of retorting, Izaya just sighed, "Whatever Shizuo."

Shizuo felt the strangest need to apologize, but quickly shook this feeling off. This was Izaya we're talking about, it's not like the flea has feelings. Besides, Shizuo was busy wondering at the fact that he and Izaya had managed not to fight once throughout most of the day.

The weird thing was, Shizuo didn't even feel the need to anymore. In fact, if he were to be completely honest with himself, which he rarely ever was, he would say he might even be enjoying himself. Just a bit.


	4. Суши

That night they ate the last of the dinner Namie had made the night before, and since she had Fridays off, that meant they would have to go out the next night. Shizuo supposed they would cross that bridge when they came to it.

Getting to bed was less awkward than the night before, but still not exactly what Shizuo would call comfortable.

With the way they slept facing away from one another, there wasn't much room, and Shizuo's wrist felt cramped as it was constantly pulled by Izaya. Two minutes in and he had lost all feeling in his fingers.

"Hey." Shizuo rolled over and poked Izaya.

"What?"

Izaya rolled over, and Shizuo had to move back a few inches. It was strange talking to Izaya when they were so close together with the tips of their knees touching, but Shizuo wasn't about to be the one to make it weird.

"My wrist hurts and my hand is going numb."

Izaya rolled his eyes, though Shizuo could tell his hand was the same way. "The only way this is going to work without us both kicking each other off the couch is to..." he trailed off looking unsure.

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "Whatever, just don't make it weird."

Izaya chuckled. Shizuo felt himself smile back and was suddenly glad the room was dark. Izaya hesitantly turned over, wrapping Shizuo's arm around himself in a loose hug, and settled his back against Shizuo's chest. Shizuo could feel Izaya's uneven breathing and took this to mean that Izaya was still nervous to be sleeping near him.

Shizuo felt strange about this, hadn't he already proved to Izaya that he could control himself? He hadn't killed him in his sleep yet.

"Hey." Shizuo whispered, and Izaya's breathing faltered, "You know I'm not going to crush you in your sleep."

He felt Izaya huff out a breath in a sort of half laugh, "Yeah, I know that now you big idiot."

Somehow, it didn't sound like an insult.

As Shizuo listened to Izaya's breathing he realized that he wasn't uncomfortable in the slightest. Izaya fit into his arms rather comfortably, and his extra warmth was rather pleasant. He heard Izaya let out a small sigh in his sleep and felt the oddest urge to smile.

He wondered what exactly was happening, but his mind was too fuzzy with sleep to allow for any serious contemplation.

As he drifted off to sleep, he realized that Izaya's hair smelled like pomegranates.

Shizuo woke up the next morning in a cocoon of warmth and realized groggily that he had a person in his arms. Choosing to ignore the fact that he was getting used to waking up in Izaya's apartment, he focused instead on Izaya himself, who was still asleep.

One, or both of them had intertwined their fingers so not only was he spooning Izaya, but they were holding hands as well. Shizuo found he didn't mind, Izaya's hands were rather soft, and it helped keep their wrists as close as possible.

The strange thing was, Shizuo didn't seem to want to move. He was warm and comfortable, and Izaya was so much easier to manage when he was unconscious. So instead of sitting up and waking Izaya he instead closed his eyes and pressed his face closer to Izaya's neck, hoping the informant didn't wake up anytime soon.

They stayed like that for a while longer, Izaya still seemed dead to the world aside from the occasional shifting. Though eventually Izaya seemed to wake up fully and sat up, groggily rubbing his eyes with his free hand and yawning.

Shizuo felt his face heat as he took note of how innocent Izaya looked when he first woke up.

Izaya turned to face him, though they were both still cocooned in blankets and mumbled tiredly "Morning."

Shizuo noticed absently that they were still holding hands, but chose not to say anything.

Izaya finally broke the silence by standing up and tugging at his hand, "Come on, we have to get up at some point."

Shizuo muttered his affirmation and plodded along after Izaya, who seemed reluctant to release his hand. It was a good idea, he realized, it kept the chain from tugging at their wrists.

Shizuo felt strange that morning as he sat outside of the shower, waiting for Izaya to come out. He could just make out the faint sound of Izaya humming and smiled despite himself. The informant was more human than he would ever admit, and Shizuo could admit to himself that he didn't mind discovering these new facets of Izaya's personality.

When Izaya finally stepped out of the shower, Shizuo averted his eyes.

Izaya laughed suddenly, "Oh my, you're blushing."

"I'm not." Shizuo protested, "It's all the steam in the room. Why do you take such hot showers?"

Izaya smirked at him, "I'm practicing for when I burn in the afterlife."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "Drama queen."

Over breakfast Izaya suggested that they should just sleep in his bed for the last two nights. "It makes sense" he shrugged nonchalantly "now that we're... comfortable sleeping next to each other."

Shizuo agreed, it would be nice to sleep in an actual bed, even if that bed was Izaya's.

"So... what are we doing today?" Shizuo asked, hoping the answer would not be "sitting on the couch and channel surfing."

Izaya shrugged, "Whatever you want to do."

Shizuo was taken aback; since when did Izaya ask him what he wanted to do? What did he want to do?

"Why don't we take another walk?" He suggested, "Maybe see if we run into Tom and Varona."

Izaya didn't seem very happy with this answer, but Shizuo was starting to go stir crazy being locked up in this apartment.

"Fine, let's go."

They spent a few hours just walking around, and surprisingly managed to hold not just one but a few decent conversations. And even if the majority of them did turn into arguments, Shizuo had to admit that debating Izaya wasn't really all that bad.

Finally just before they were about to find dinner they ran into Tom and Varona on their way back from a collection.

"Shizuo! And... Izaya?" Tom waved them over looking rather confused. Varona had her head cocked like a bird and was looking at the handcuffs questioningly.

"It's okay, we're not fighting." Shizuo had had to begin quite a few conversations like that.

"Oh, alright then." Tom scratched his head, not really sure what to say, "Your doctor called and said you would be out for the whole week with a fever."

"Uh, yeah..." Shizuo coughed weakly, "It's one of those bed-rest fevers, as long as I don't do anything too strenuous I'll be better by Monday."

"Alright," Tom seemed mostly placated with this answer, "And, uh... What about the..." He mimed toward the handcuffs.

"That was my idea!" Izaya chipped in, and Shizuo wasn't sure whether to stop him while he was ahead or trust him to finish the story. "I'm here to make sure he doesn't hurt himself since I'm immune to the fever."

"Oh," Tom nodded, then hurriedly took a step back as Izaya's words registered, "Is he still contagious?"

Varona took a step back as well and Izaya's eyes glinted evilly, "Ohhh yeah, he's completely contagious, in fact, I didn't even want to let him outside of the house, but of course he dragged me!" Izaya sighed and rolled his eyes like Shizuo was the problem.

"Oh well, it was nice seeing you Shizuo, I hope you get better soon!" Tom left pretty quickly after that, with Varona on his heels, and Shizuo turned to face Izaya accusingly.

"You drove them away on purpose."

Izaya raised an eyebrow, "Are you seriously surprised?"

Shizuo felt stupid as he suddenly remembered who he was talking to, "Right, I almost forgot how much of an asshole you are. Thanks for the reminder."

Izaya almost looked sad, but Shizuo chalked this up to Izaya trying to manipulate him.

"I just didn't want to spend all day chit chatting with the Russian doll." Izaya crossed his arms.

Shizuo raised an eyebrow, "Varona barely spoke."

"Still."

Shizuo was entirely confused, Izaya was acting irrational and his first thought was to ask him about it instead of to hit him.

"Whatever, where do you want to go for dinner?"

Izaya smirked, "How about Russia Sushi?"

Shizuo shrugged, sushi always sounded good, and he had to admit he wouldn't mind seeing the look on Simon's face when the two of them walked in together.

As they approached the restaurant, Simon noticed Shizuo before Izaya, "Ah Shizuo, today is good day for sushi, no?"

Shizuo chuckled, "Of course, Simon."

"добрый вечер, Simon." Izaya smirked up at him, and Simon did a double take.

"Izaya?" Then his eyes narrowed, "Вы не здесь, чтобы начать неприятности?"

Izaya scoffed, "кто, я?"

"Um." Shizuo coughed awkwardly, "Table for two then?"

Simon nodded but continued to squint at Izaya, "Anything for Shizuo."

Once they had been seated and ordered, Shizuo narrowed his eyes at Izaya.

"What?" Izaya raised an eyebrow at him from across the table where he was idly playing with a napkin.

"Since when do you speak Russian?"

Izaya shrugged, "It's more interesting to talk to people in their native tongue," he narrowed his eyes over Shizuo's shoulder to where he assumed Simon was standing near the entrance, "Some people are completely different when they speak in their first language."

Shizuo raised his eyebrow appreciatively, glad to know that Izaya's infatuation with people wasn't always insanely creepy, "How many do you know?"

"Hm?" Izaya had pulled out his phone and was back to checking e-mails, or instant messaging gang leaders, and Shizuo felt a twinge of annoyance. "Hey!" Izaya protested as Shizuo plucked his phone from his hand and stuck it in his own pocket.

"How many languages do you speak?"

Izaya raised an eyebrow at him, an amused smile playing across his lips, "Japanese, obviously, Russian, English, Chinese..." He went on to name a few more and Shizuo's eyes widened as the list grew impossibly long, "oh and, I'm working on my German, but I'm not quite fluent... What?"

Shizuo shook his head, "You're insane."

"Thanks." Izaya smirked at him and sipped his drink.

When Simon brought over their meals, he leaned over to Izaya and said something quietly in Russian. Izaya calmly sipped at his drink and replied in a neutral tone. Simon sighed and left shaking his head.

"What did you say to him?"

Izaya shrugged, still watching Simon out of the corner of his eye, "Like I said, some people are completely different in other languages." Whatever Simon had said to him seemed to subdue him for the time being, and while Shizuo couldn't bring himself to complain, it did put a bit of a dampener on their conversation.

"Seriously, Izaya, what did he say?" Shizuo got frustrated around the fifth time Simon passed their table and the two of them shot each other a look.

"It's nothing Shizuo, just drop it." Izaya rolled his eyes, "How about you keep telling me about the time Shinra tried to set you up on a date in middle school."

Shizuo narrowed his eyes at him, not ready to drop the subject, but noticed the way Izaya had been nervously toying with the sleeves of his jacket, "Fine," he sighed, "her name was Haruka..."

He watched Izaya carefully as he told the story, even Shizuo could tell there was something wrong with the informant, but he couldn't tell for the life of him what it could be. He couldn't figure out why Simon seemed to have it in for Izaya. The guy was a lot of things, but Simon was generally nice to everyone, especially if they frequently dined at Russia Sushi.

"Shizuo, you're staring."

Shizuo shook himself out of his thoughts, he hadn't realized when he had stopped talking, but it seemed as though he had been staring at Izaya for quite some time, and Izaya seemed strangely uncomfortable with this.

"I'm still confused."

Izaya rolled his eyes, "And how is that different from usual?" When Shizuo glared at him Izaya sighed, "Simon just wants to make sure I'm not causing you trouble."

Shizuo frowned, "That can't be all."

Izaya glared back, "Well it is."

"That's why you're in such a bad mood?"

"Why do you care?" Izaya folded his arms as best as he could, "You love seeing me in a bad mood."

Shizuo shrugged, "You have me there."

"Whatever, it's time to leave anyway." Izaya stood cautiously and left a bill on the table before Shizuo could pull out his wallet.

"Thanks." Shizuo mumbled.

As they left the restaurant Izaya took Shizuo's hand in his. At his questioning look, Izaya shrugged, "My wrist hurts and you walk too slow."

Shizuo didn't argue, his wrist was rather sore a well, and this made it easier to slow Izaya down.

As they passed Simon he nodded to Izaya and bid goodbye to Shizuo, "Come back soon!"

The walk back to the apartment was rather quiet, though Izaya had quite a time laughing at Shizuo's face after they had passed Kadota and his gang and Erika had wolf-whistled at them from across the street.

"Laugh some more why don't you." Shizuo mumbled, feeling his face heat up even further.

"Thanks I think I will." Izaya squeezed his hand and Shizuo smiled wryly despite himself.

They decided to take the long route and didn't end up getting back to The apartment until well into the night. When they finally arrived, Izaya stashed the leftovers in the fridge and an awkward silence fell over the room. Shizuo almost wished Namie was there to throw a plate or two at them.

The night had felt like a date, even Shizuo could admit that to himself, though there was no way in hell he would ever say that out loud.

The strangest thing was, Shizuo had actually really enjoyed himself. Izaya was slowly becoming less and less of an irritant, and more and more like a real person. Shizuo could actually picture being friends with the flea.


	5. Movie Binge

It took him a few minutes to realize that Izaya wasn't looking at him. They were in the midst of getting ready for bed, and yet Izaya hadn't met his eyes once since they had gotten back to The Apartment.

"Oi, flea."

Izaya glanced up at him, but his eyes only made it to a point just above his shoulder, "Yeah?"

"Where are we sleeping?"

Izaya shrugged, "I did suggest my room earlier, but if you want to stay on the couch that's fine too."

Shizuo shrugged, "It would be nice to sleep in an actual bed."

"My room it is."

Silence fell once again as they headed up the stairs to Izaya's bedroom, and Shizuo shook his head; he could get used to an apartment that size.

Izaya's room was rather plain; monochrome colors, no decoration, and minimal clutter. Surprisingly enough, it really wasn't actually that far off from what Shizuo's room looked like back at his own apartment. Wordlessly, Shizuo walked over to the bed and slid under the covers, opening his arms for Izaya to crawl in next to him.

That position wasn't strictly necessary as the bed was quite large, and could easily fit the two of them with little problem, but Shizuo felt it would be even more awkward if they ended up with their backs to each other again.

Izaya hesitated for a moment before crawling in next to him, and Shizuo couldn't help but notice that Izaya's pillow smelled just like him. He supposed that that must be what he smelled like as well at that point, after using Izaya's shampoo for the last few days; though he could admit that it smelled much better on Izaya.

"Shizuo," Izaya's voice was heavy with sleep, and Shizuo could tell from the way he was breathing that he was close to dozing off, "why haven't you killed me yet?"

Shizuo chuckled softly, "I could ask you the same question."

"But you have much less self control than I do."

"Watch it."

"You know I'm right."

Shizuo hated to admit it, "I'm not sure. I guess you're not as bad as I thought you were."

Izaya stilled, "I'm not a good person. You of all people should know that Shizuo."

"At least you recognize the fact." Shizuo half joked.

Izaya didn't say anything for a little while, and Shizuo realized that he had fallen asleep. Slowly, so as to not wake him, Shizuo sat up and looked down at Izaya's face. He looked so peaceful and innocent when he slept. Shizuo sighed, he never thought he would ever think something like that about Izaya, but he couldn't deny that the informant wasn't at all the person he thought he was.

The fact remained that Izaya was equally as damaged as he was. Perhaps even more so.

And hadn't they caused the same amount of trouble over the years?

Perhaps he was rationalizing. He knew in the back of his mind this wouldn't last. The second these handcuffs were removed, Izaya would snap back to the same horrible person he'd always been.

Shizuo laid back down, but couldn't seem to fall asleep, no matter how comfortable the bed was.

Just when it finally seemed as though he was able to drift off, Izaya began to move around in his sleep. It started out barely noticeable, his fingers flexed in between Shizuo's, but soon enough he was doing his best to kick Shizuo from the bed.

"What the..." Shizuo muttered. It took him a moment to realize that Izaya was having a nightmare. "Hey." He tried to shake him awake, "Izaya."

Izaya wasn't waking up and he had begun to shake, mumbling unintelligible things that may have been in another language, Shizuo couldn't tell.

Shizuo rushed to think of what he could do in this situation, he could feel Izaya's body trembling as he fought through whatever horrible thing was going through his mind.

"Hey," he reached up and ran his fingers through Izaya's hair, silently marveling at how soft it was, "Shhh, it's all right."

He kept running his fingers through Izaya's hair and Izaya slowly began to calm down, the thrashing ceased, and his body relaxed against Shizuo's.

"You're alright."

"Hm." Izaya hummed in his sleep, "Shizuo."

"Yeah, flea, it's me." Shizuo squeezed his hand for good measure, and Izaya twisted around in his arms, his eyes half open and his expression vacant. "Shizuo." Before Shizuo could realize what was about to happen, Izaya leaned in and pressed his lips lightly to his.

Shizuo froze, and Izaya pulled back, humming to himself, and relaxed against the pillow. His breathing slowed, resuming its sleepy rhythm, and Shizuo was still frozen in place, staring at Izaya's lips.

Shizuo's brain was running a million miles a minute, and he couldn't seem to stop it. Could this be some sort of new manipulation tactic? He didn't think even Izaya would go that far.

The flea seemed so innocent, his arms were still wrapped around him, and Shizuo felt more comfortable than he had been in a long time.

"What on earth am I going to do with you?" Shizuo leaned his forehead against Izaya's and shut his eyes.

The next morning, he woke up on his back, with Izaya's head nestled into the crook of his neck and one leg thrown over his. It felt extremely intimate and Shizuo wasn't sure how to react. Their hands were resting on his stomach still grasping each other like a promise.

"How did I get here." Shizuo mumbled to himself, raising his free hand from its spot around Izaya's waist to rub at his eyes.

When he moved it seemed to rouse Izaya, who yawned and stretched out like a cat. Shizuo froze and wondered suddenly if Izaya remembered anything from the night before.

Slowly Izaya raised his head and met Shizuo's eyes, inexplicably, his face broke out into a grin, "Morning Shizu-chan." he stretched his leg out and kicked at Shizuo's feet.

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "Morning flea."

Izaya sat up and shivered, immediately pulling the covers back over himself. The sky outside the window was dark gray, and the clouds seemed to be doing their best to drown the city. Fall was finally here, and it seemed like they were stuck inside for the day.

"Brrr," Izaya complained, "It's so cold."

Shizuo chuckled, "What are we going to do today?"

Izaya thought for a moment, "You got to decide yesterday, so now it's my turn." Shizuo suddenly regretted asking, "I think we need to cure you of your hatred of tv."

Shizuo shook his head, "Please no."

Izaya's expression was positively maniacal, "Ohhh yes. We're going to have a movie marathon."

Shizuo groaned, "I can't sit still for that long, I'll end up breaking something. Possibly you."

Shizuo did his best to appear menacing, but the effect seemed to fall short as Izaya chuckled, "You can certainly try, but if you go anywhere near my computer I will cut you."

Shizuo smiled suddenly, it was nice being around someone who wasn't scared of him.

"Let's go make popcorn."

Shizuo reluctantly followed Izaya, who skipped happily down the stairs. Shizuo nearly told him to stop for fear he would fall on his face, but he seemed to know what he was doing. Izaya hummed as the popcorn revolved in the microwave and Shizuo shook his head at the way Izaya was acting. The only adjective Shizuo could come up with to accurately describe him with was "cute" although he would possibly rather gouge his own eyes from his face than say that out loud.

"Should we be eating popcorn for breakfast?" Shizuo asked, dubiously eyeing the bowl.

Izaya shrugged, "I'll have Namie make some real breakfast for us when she gets here, but for now we need to go pick out what movies we're going to watch."

Shizuo grumbled, but followed Izaya into the living room anyway, and did his best to help him search through the towering stack of DVD's in the cabinet to the side of the tv.

"Star Wars or Star Trek?" Izaya held up two cases to let him pick between.

"What's the difference?"

Izaya looked affronted at this, "Seriously?" Shizuo shrugged, "That's it, we're starting with Star Wars, but I'm definitely making you watch Star Trek with me later."

Shizuo startled at the mention of "later." The handcuffs were coming off the next day, and Izaya had thrown out that "later" so casually that he nearly didn't catch it.

Izaya popped in the disk and set to gathering each and every blanket from around the room.

"What are you doing?" Shizuo asked curiously as Izaya piled his arms high with blankets.

"We can't watch movies without blankets." he rolled his eyes as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Right." Shizuo followed him to the couch where Izaya proceeded to pull Shizuo down beside him and pile blankets over their laps.

"We're going to die of heat." Shizuo muttered, as he straightened the topmost blanket.

"No we won't, Izaya rolled his eyes. He had nested them in a cocoon and was in the process of arranging the popcorn bowl between them, "Now shush, the movie is starting."

The movie wasn't actually as bad as Shizuo had expected it to be, though that was mainly due to Izaya's constant stream of commentary.

"Hey look Shizuo, it's you." During one of the movies Izaya pointed at some horrible green worm thing on the screen that looked as if it had crawled from a city sewage pipe.

"Hah hah." Shizuo rolled his eyes, "hey look Izaya, it's you." He pointed to one of the main characters who was in chains at the monster's feet in nothing but a painful looking bikini.

Izaya snorted, and threw a handful of popcorn at him. Shizuo chuckled and picked the stray pieces from the folds of their blankets.

"You two look pretty cozy." Namie was leaning in the doorway, brandishing her newly un-bent soup ladle.

"What do you want Namie?" Izaya sighed and dropped his head down on Shizuo's shoulder.

"Since it doesn't look like you'll be getting much done today, I was going to ask off for the afternoon." she rolled her eyes at him.

"Yeah whatever, do what you want."

Namie rolled her eyes again, "Finally."

With that she left, and Izaya neglected to remove his head from Shizuo's shoulder. Not that Shizuo could say he minded too terribly. Shizuo risked a glance down at Izaya, but he seemed pretty invested in the movie. He wondered if Izaya remembered the night before. Shizuo couldn't shake the memory of Izaya's lips on his, and how soft they had been.

"Here." Shizuo shifted closer, and lifted his chained arm over Izaya's head to wrap it around his midsection, trailing the chain across his stomach. Izaya complied happily, and snuggled closer, resting his head in the crook of Shizuo's neck so that his hair just barely tickled Shizuo's chin.

Shizuo stared down at the person in his arms and wondered how he would have reacted if someone had told him a week ago that he would be snuggling with Izaya Orihara. And that he would enjoy it. He probably would have punched them halfway across the city.

Izaya took hold of the hand Shizuo had wrapped around him and began to absently play with his fingers, leaving Shizuo in serious danger of dozing off. In fact, he may have once or twice, but Izaya's endless stream of commentary usually woke him up.

Shizuo leaned his cheek against the top of Izaya's head, "Izaya."

"Hm?" Izaya continued to play with his hand absently.

"Let's get more popcorn, I need to stretch my legs."

Izaya moaned but followed him up out of the blankets and stretched out his arms over his head. His t-shirt rode up over his stomach and Shizuo had to tear his eyes away. Izaya had always tampered with his self control, but this was an entirely new ballgame.

As the microwave whirred and popped, Shizuo bit his lip. Where was all of this headed? A week ago he had hated the very mention of Izaya, just the other day they had tried to kill one another, and now he couldn't stop thinking about him?

Shizuo was confused, and wondered what was going to happen when the handcuffs came off. Would things just go back to the way they were? Was that even possible? Did he even want them to?

Shizuo startled as he realized that he genuinely didn't wish for his relationship with Izaya to revert. The last few days had actually been happy for him. Izaya wasn't entirely the person Shizuo had thought he was, or at least there was a whole other side to the informant, that Shizuo rather liked being around.

Besides, Izaya was the only person Shizuo could be himself with. He never had to worry about hurting him, or saying the wrong thing. The two of them had spent years insulting each other with everything in their arsenal.

"Shizuo."

Shizuo turned to find Izaya studying him, "Yeah?"

"How do you like the movies?"

Shizuo shrugged, "They're not bad I suppose."

Izaya rolled his eyes, "Only you would say that about Star Wars."

Shizuo shrugged again, watching the way Izaya's eyes followed the motion.

"Brrr," Izaya rubbed his arms, "It's awfully cold in here."

Shizuo rolled his eyes and took the popcorn out of the microwave, "That's because you just came out from under, like, five hundred blankets."

Izaya sighed and shook his head, "You idiot." Shizuo blinked, wondering what he'd done and Izaya moved closer, "That was an invitation."

Shizuo realized what Izaya was implying and his hand slipped on the bag and popcorn covered the counter. Izaya laughed as Shizuo's face heated up, "Relax Shizuo, I was just kidding."

Shizuo relaxed and began to clean up the scattered popcorn, "It's hard to tell with you." Izaya just chuckled, and Shizuo paused a moment, "I had thought you were straight."

Izaya smirked at him, "Yeah, straight from hell."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "Now that I can believe."

They found their way back onto the couch, and Izaya immediately resumed their earlier position, lifting Shizuo's arm around him and claiming his hand as his own.

"Hey, maybe I was using that."

"Tough luck. I was serious about being cold." Izaya retained his grip on Shizuo's arm, and Shizuo realized he wouldn't be getting it back any time soon.

They remained that way throughout the movie binge, and Shizuo had begun to seriously consider the fact that Izaya may never return to him the use of his arm.

Shizuo had never managed to sit still for that long in his life, in fact that day he had broken his record for consecutive time spent in the same spot several times over. Oddly enough, Shizuo barely noticed this fact. Normally he would have gotten jittery and irritable around the second or third hour, but they managed to spend the entire day indoors without Shizuo even considering moving; other than to get popcorn or move Izaya when his arm fell asleep.

"Hey" Shizuo felt Izaya poking at his chest, "the movie just ended."

Shizuo opened his eyes and noticed the end credits scrolling endlessly across the screen, "Oh yeah."

Izaya chuckled and shook his head, "How much of the movies did you actually catch?"

Shizuo shrugged, "I got the general theme, a war in space right?"

Izaya punched his shoulder, "There's more to it than that, idiot."

Shizuo chuckled, "I guess we'll have to watch them again later."

There it was again. He'd used the word "later," like the next day wouldn't mark the end to this small slice of paradise. If Izaya sensed the shift to Shizuo's mood, he said nothing. Instead, he yawned and stretched out like a cat, gently nudging Shizuo's feet with his own.

Shizuo raised his eyebrows, "Tired?"

Izaya slumped back against Shizuo and rested his head on his shoulder, "What can I say, it's been a long day."

Shizuo shook his head and absent mindedly ran a hand through Izaya's hair, "We sat on a couch for the entire day."

"Every day spent with you is like a thousand." Izaya poked him in the side and Shizuo chuckled.

"Alright Shakespeare."

The thing neither of them mentioned was the fact that neither of them wanted to go to sleep. Going to sleep meant that this, whatever this was, would be over. When they woke up the next day the handcuffs would come off and they wouldn't have an excuse to be together, because that's all the handcuffs were to each of them at that point.

Shizuo could hardly believe it himself. A large part of him still wanted to get away; it rebelled against the notion of tolerating Izaya, and it urged him to revert to their old ways. But another part of him, one that was growing with each minute passed that he spent with Izaya, was telling him that there was room for change. That perhaps this life would not be so bad.

In the end they found themselves reluctantly trudging up the stairs and crawling into bed, each feeling alone in their dread of the next day.

With Izaya curled up in his arms for what felt like the thousandth time, Shizuo found himself lying awake, unable to force himself to sleep. He couldn't quite put a name to what he was feeling, though he knew deep down that he would do almost anything if only to keep these handcuffs on for another day or two.

It was peculiar. Utterly bizarre, that he would want to spend more time with Izaya, but there it was. He still knew in the back of his mind the kind of person Izaya was, but he also couldn't deny that there was a new side to the informant that Shizuo found himself enthralled by.

This "new" Izaya was still challenging, still devious, still slightly manipulative, but yet at the same time charming and curious and intriguing. He was snuggly and affectionate, and perhaps most importantly; completely unafraid of Shizuo.

Shizuo could count on one hand the number of people who didn't fear his strength, and Izaya was most of them.

Izaya sighed in his sleep and Shizuo rested his head against his, slowly letting out a breath he hadn't known he was holding.


	6. Blood

They both woke up late the next morning, and it took them a good hour to even force themselves out of bed. It was ironically sunny through the great glass windows of the apartment, though neither of them felt the need to comment, and breakfast was accompanied by an awkward silence.

The trip to Shinra and Celty's apartment was even more awkward, as they decided to catch a taxi and their proximity in the backseat made the silence even more noticeable. Izaya's hand rested on the seat halfway between them as he stared intensely through the window, and Shizuo was sorely tempted to take it in his, but he somehow doubted that Izaya would welcome the gesture.

Shinra opened the door on the second knock with a grin on his face, "You both survived! That went better than I thought it would."

Izaya shouldered past him into the apartment, "Just get this over with."

Shizuo greeted Celty awkwardly as Shinra attempted to question them and Izaya glared at the floor.

Finally, Shinra bit his lip and looked to Celty, "Are you two ready?"

Shizuo nodded, a pit forming in his stomach, and Izaya wordlessly held out his wrist. As the handcuffs dissolved away, Izaya pulled his arm back quickly, rubbing his wrist where the cuff had been.

Shinra seemed to brace himself for something to happen, but when nothing did, he relaxed, "I see my plan worked - "

He broke off as Izaya's knife pressed against his jugular. Shinra seemed positively thrilled as Izaya glared down at him. Celty had her scythe out and was bracing to defend Shinra. Shizuo wasn't quite sure where he fit into this odd equation.

"If you ever try something like this again, I'll bury my knife in your trachea. Got it?" Izaya growled, his blade glinting in the sunlight from the uncovered window.

Shinra laughed, "Don't worry Izaya, I don't think Celty will be making me any more handcuffs any time soon."

Izaya didn't respond except to retract his knife and start towards the door.

Shizuo felt strangely empty as he watched Izaya leave. He vaguely wondered why he had reacted so strongly once the cuffs were removed; he hadn't seemed that bothered by it while they were on.

A horrible thought struck Shizuo then, and he was nearly forced to sit down. Did Izaya seriously hate being chained to Shizuo that much? Had he been faking everything the entire time?

"Shizuo, are you alright?" Shinra was leaning over him, waving a hand over Shizuo's face.

Shizuo frowned, "Why wouldn't I be?" Celty and Shinra exchanged a glance, and Shizuo felt his annoyance building up, "What?"

Shinra lead him over to the couch, and he and Celty sat across from him like it was some sort of intervention. "How did the two of you do this past week? Any fights?"

Shizuo frowned, "Only one major fight, but it ended pretty quick."

"What's that on your arm?" Shinra pointed to the faint red line that marked the cut Shizuo had gotten. He hated to admit it, but Izaya had probably been right about it needing stitches. "Nothing. It was an accident, not Izaya."

Shinra raised an eyebrow, "Just Izaya? Not flea?"

Shizuo was starting to seriously get annoyed, "Why does it matter anyway? The cuffs are gone, everything is back to normal."

"Then why do you say that like it's a bad thing?"

Shizuo paused, he hadn't meant for it to sound like that, but he knew deep down that that's how he felt, "I didn't."

Shinra just raised another eyebrow at him, "Shizuo..."

Shizuo shook his head, "Enough Shinra, why are you questioning me?"

Shinra glanced at Celty, and she began typing on her phone, How did you manage not to kill him?

Shizuo shrugged, "It wasn't that hard. I've been working on my self control."

Celty erased the last line and typed again, So you didn't get along at all?

Shizuo frowned, "I didn't say... it's not that we didn't... Why are you asking me this?"

"We just happened to notice the way Izaya was acting earlier, and the way you're acting now..." Shinra paused, "It just seems like there's something else going on with you and Izaya."

Shizuo narrowed his eyes, "Like what?"

"I mean, Izaya seemed pretty upset, and you aren't exactly jumping for joy..."

Shizuo deflated, he knew that they knew, or at least suspected what he was feeling and if there was anyone he could go to about this it would be them.

He sighed, "Izaya and I... something happened."

"Like what?" Shinra asked the question like he already knew the answer, so Shizuo forged ahead.

"We, sort of, got close. And I didn't exactly hate it. I didn't think he did either, until..." He trailed off, not entirely sure what to say.

Shinra and Celty exchanged another glance, "So is this thing, like... Shizuo, do you like Izaya?"

Shizuo nearly recoiled at the question, but found himself nodding all the same, it wasn't really something he could rationally deny at that point.

Shinra let out a sigh of relief, "I never thought my plan would work this well... and I also wasn't sure we would be able to get you to ever actually tell us about it."

Shizuo felt irritation welling up in him, "You knew?"

Shinra laughed, and Celty put a hand on his shoulder, "Shizuo, the look on your face when we removed the handcuffs was like we were ripping you away from your partner."

Shizuo felt his face heat up, "I wasn't -"

"Also, some blocked number sent us this photo yesterday." Shinra held out his phone to show Shizuo a picture taken from behind of him and Izaya curled up on the couch together watching Star Wars. Shizuo was gazing down at Izaya toying with his fingers, with an expression that could've melted butter.

Namie. Shizuo ground his teeth.

"So..." Shinra nudged him with his foot, "What are you going to do about it?"

Shizuo stared at him, "What do you mean?"

Shinra and Celty exchanged yet another glance, and Shizuo felt about ready to burst, "Seriously, stop that."

Shinra laughed, "I'm sorry Shizuo, it's just that you need to do something about this."

Shizuo sighed, "Like what? You saw how he reacted, he hated being chained to me."

Shinra nearly laughed again, but wisely seemed to constrain himself, "Shizuo, the two of you were cuddling. There's no way he hated being there that much."

Shizuo frowned "Yeah, but-"

"Have you ever wondered why Izaya is obsessed with humanity in general, instead of individual people like the rest of us?"

"What does that have to do with -"

"Izaya has a fragile heart." Shinra sighed, and Shizuo quieted, "he doesn't have the capability to love a single person, because he can't handle the heartbreak. So instead he chooses to love humanity as a whole."

Shinra frowned, "Then how do I fit into this?"

Shinra continued, "It doesn't make sense... it's never made sense how much he hates you. He can't just claim that he 'loves all humans except Shizuo,' because that makes you different than everyone else in his mind."

"So, he likes me because he hates me?" Shizuo was puzzled.

"Yes and no, he hates you because he loves you. And he can't love you without changing his entire philosophy and enduring heartbreak that would shatter his heart." Shinra continued, "You're the one person he can't predict or successfully manipulate. You're the one person that is just as powerful as he is, and as much as he claims it makes you a monster, and not worthy of his love, in all reality those qualities make you more human than most of us. So by that property, Izaya should love you just as much as he loves the rest of humanity; the only problem is that he doesn't, he loves you more than he loves humanity and it's the one aspect of his life he isn't in control of."

Shizuo felt as though his entire world had turned upside down, "So, all these years, the reason why he tormented me was so that I could be his antagonist, and he could have an excuse to hate me?"

Shinra nodded solemnly, "I know all this because two months ago, Izaya came to a similar conclusion and almost couldn't handle it. Do you remember that fight the two of you had just before he disappeared?"

Shizuo did. It had been a particularly nasty fight. Half of the city had been torn up and they had both left with a fair amount of bleeding and bruising. "Yeah, he came into the city and paid off a guy to hit me with a truck."

Shinra nodded, "Just before that, he and Simon had gotten into an argument in Russia Sushi while Celty and I were having dinner. According to Dennis, the gist of it was that Simon had noticed he had some sort of thing for you and wanted him to stop causing trouble. Izaya had stormed out and the next thing we all knew half of the city was destroyed and Izaya was nowhere to be found. He came to our apartment a week later with a few jobs for Celty and told us he would be gone for a while. We surmised the rest of it based off of what I know of Izaya from our school days."

Shizuo was speechless. All this time he had thought Izaya hated him when...

"I have to go." he stood up so suddenly that Celty and Shinra leaned back from him.

Shinra smiled, "Good luck Shizuo, you're going to need it."

Celty hugged him and typed some motivational words on her phone, but Shizuo's mind was already through the door.

It took him about half an hour to get to Izaya's apartment, and he considered turning around with each step. He knew once he arrived, there would be no turning back.

When he got to the apartment door, he saw a note taped to the front of it and nearly laughed out loud. "This apartment's occupant has relocated."

Clearly Namie thought things had returned to normal.

Steeling his nerves, he raised a fist to knock on the door when it was suddenly thrown open and Namie stepped out, shutting it softly behind her.

"What-" Shizuo started to say when she took hold of his sleeve and yanked him to the end of the hallway. When she was satisfied they were far enough from the door she stopped and wheeled around to face him, placing her hands on her hips menacingly.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?"

Shizuo blinked in surprise, "I was just-"

"You know what?" She shook her head, "I really don't care, Shizuo, just go away and don't come back."

"What? Why?"

Namie glared at him, "Normally I don't care about my boss, he could go jump off a bridge and I would only worry about my paycheck, but he's making me miserable."

Shizuo frowned, Izaya had only had an hour's head start on him from Shinra's apartment, "How is he-"

Namie raised an eyebrow at him, "If you're actually that stupid then I have no idea what he sees in you."

Shizuo inhaled sharply, "Wait, he's... upset? About me?"

Namie rolled her eyes, "He's on the couch watching Star Trek in his pajamas, wrapped in five thousand blankets and looking miserable. It's making me miserable. His phone and computer keep beeping but he refuses to check them and it's driving me crazy."

Shizuo stopped listening after the words "Star Trek." Silently, he moved her out of the way and made his way to the apartment door, using the key Izaya had used to get in that he kept on top of the doorframe.

When he stepped inside the smell of popcorn hit him like a pleasant memory and he walked quietly over to the couch where he found Izaya curled up among what seemed to be every single blanket from the whole apartment.

"Ahem." Shizuo cleared his throat, and Izaya turned around.

Shizuo had about two and a half seconds to take in the redness of his eyes and the miserable expression on his face before Izaya was up over the couch and a knife whizzed by Shizuo's face, just nicking his cheek.

Shizuo barely registered the blood on his face as he dodged Izaya's next attack, and moved inward, scooping Izaya up in a fireman's carry, pulling the knife from his grasp, "You're getting slow."

"Put me down, you Neanderthal!"

Shizuo shrugged, "Okay." He deposited Izaya on the couch and made to sit down next to him.

Izaya quickly moved a few feet away from him and glared, "What are you doing here Shizuo?"

Shizuo stared at him, "Tying up loose ends"

Izaya scoffed, "You couldn't have waited a day to try to kill me?"

Shizuo shook his head, "I couldn't wait, and I didn't think you would have wanted me to either."

Izaya sneered as Shizuo shifted closer, and toyed with another knife he had pulled from who-knows-where, "So eager to get rid of me."

Shizuo shook his head, "That's not what I want."

Izaya faltered, "Then what do you want Shizuo?"

Shizuo paused, searching Izaya's eyes, "This."

He leaned in and took Izaya's face in his hands, bringing their lips together in a quick kiss. Izaya had frozen, and Shizuo pulled back quickly, wondering if he had done something wrong, when Izaya tackled him into the couch, pressing their lips back together eagerly.

Shizuo felt triumphant as Izaya bit down on his lip. He could feel his heartbeat through their chests, and slid a hand beneath his shirt to fell it more; Izaya shivered, and slipped his tongue into Shizuo's mouth.

They stayed like this for quite a while, and by the time they were able to sit up without attacking each other all over again, they were both out of breath, Izaya's hair was ruffled, and Shizuo's shirt was partially unbuttoned.

Shizuo reached out to smooth Izaya's hair, and the informant sighed contentedly and caught his hand, playing with his fingers once again. Shizuo thought that he would never be able to get enough of this.

"Why did you come back?" Izaya's voice was raspy and quiet, as if he still doubted Shizuo's answer.

Shizuo silently pulled Izaya into his lap and kissed his lips briefly, "Shinra told me why you left for two months."

Izaya froze, "You're... this isn't your way of pitying me is it?"

"No! No no no." Shizuo's eyes widened, "Do you really think I'm the sort of person to do this because I pitied you?"

Izaya shrugged, "I didn't think you were the type of person to do this in the first place."

Shizuo smiled wryly, "Neither did I, but I realized a few things about myself while I was here. You showed me a few things about myself while I was here." Izaya looked at him skeptically, and Shizuo pressed a kiss to his forehead, "You're the only person who's not afraid of me."

Izaya frowned, and Shizuo continued, "Even Varona is sometimes afraid of my strength, but you're the only person who never has been. You challenge me, and make me think, and make my life interesting. Frustrating, but interesting." Izaya snorted, "While I was here I saw the other side to you, the side that isn't manipulative and vaguely homicidal."

Izaya raised an eyebrow, "Vaguely?"

"Not the point. I've been... happy this past week, happier than I've been in a long time, and somehow you did that. You showed me that I can control myself and that I can be happy."

Izaya was smiling, and Shizuo felt himself smiling in response.

"Oh do go on," Izaya's smile grew and he leaned in even closer to Shizuo, "what else do you like about me?"

Shizuo rolled his eyes, "Your incessant need to irritate me." He kissed him. "Your love for space movies." He kissed him. "Your obsession with cell phones." He kissed him and then paused, "Well, maybe not that horrible Candy Crush game-"

He broke off as Izaya kissed him again, wrapping his arms around Shizuo's neck and biting down on his lip.

Shizuo chuckled and drew back slightly, "I'll take that as a yes then."

"A yes to what?" Izaya was staring at Shizuo's lips hungrily.

"To dating."

Izaya's eyes snapped up to meet Shizuo's, "Really?"

Shizuo nodded and Izaya grinned, attacking Shizuo's mouth again before pulling back again, "Of course Shizu-chan."

Shizuo rolled his eyes, but leaned in again, sliding his hands up Izaya's shirt and reveling in the way Izaya shivered and grinned into the kiss.

"Hey!" They jumped apart at the sound of a soup ladle being banged into the side of a pot, "Lovebirds!" Namie was standing in the doorway to the kitchen looking disgusted, "Does this mean I have to make dinner for three people?"

Izaya rolled his eyes, still sitting in Shizuo's lap, "If that wouldn't be too much trouble." His words dripped sarcasm as his fingers continued to play with Shizuo's hair, driving all rational thought from his mind.

"Ugh." Namie stormed back into the kitchen and left the two of them alone.

Shizuo stared at Izaya, taking in the way Izaya's eyes studied him. Finally Izaya rubbed a thumb against his cheek, pulling it away to show blood from the knife slice during their fight earlier. Shizuo had forgotten about it.

"Maybe before we start watching Star Trek," Shizuo inwardly groaned before he remembered that meant being able to cuddle with Izaya on the couch, "we should get this fixed up."

Shizuo shrugged, "It doesn't hurt."

"Yeah but it's bleeding pretty badly..." Izaya's eyes widened and he glanced down at the cushion next to them, "You got blood on my couch!"


End file.
